GOVERNMENT

Awards are presented to local government officials who have fostered an environment of technology innovation in their organization while implementing technology programs and practices that have improved service delivery and the quality of life in their community.

The states will also entice online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes by offering amnesty on taxes the retailers haven’t collected in the years since the Internet retail boom began.

Dell initially will collect more than 2,000 systems the state is currently storing, and run a destructive data overwrite on hard drives before refurbishing or recycling them.

“The rest of the world operates on a monthly billing system,” said Bucks. “In November, the Montana Department of Revenue will be joining the rest of the world.”

"Every unnecessary dollar spent by state government is a dollar that Vermonters can keep in their wallets and pocketbooks,"

Price said he believes an alert program like A Child Is Missing could have saved lives during his career.

Although the immediate focus is on urgent care for hurricane victims, participants in the effort say the disaster demonstrates a broader need to computerize individual health records nationwide and make them available throughout the medical system.

Among other things, Montana is the only state that offers a "Submit your Good Ideas" option on its State portal page.